The Eucharist is meant to begin in us! Fr. Marcel Uwineza’s Holy Thursday Homily
In a profound and stirring Holy Thursday homily titled “The Eucharist: Love That Becomes Service in a Broken World,“ Fr. Marcel Uwineza, SJ, the Principal of Hekima University College, called upon the faithful to move beyond the mere ritual of the Mass and become “Eucharistic people” in a world increasingly defined by division and self-interest.
Standing at the threshold of the Sacred Triduum, Fr. Marcel emphasized that the Eucharist is not a symbolic idea, but a radical act of self-giving by a God who “does not take, but gives.”
Fr. Marcel opened with a poignant anecdote of a refugee woman who wept upon receiving the Eucharist, noting it was the first time in months she had been given something that “was not taken away from someone else.” He challenged the congregation that gathered at Hekima University College Chapel to recognize the Eucharist as a personal encounter with Christ, offering true freedom to a humanity still enslaved by sin and violence, injustice and greed, and division and fear.
In a sobering moment of the homily, Fr. Marcel addressed the presence of Judas at the Last Supper. He warned that it is “terrifyingly possible” to receive the Sacrament while simultaneously wounding the Body of Christ through resentment, gossip, or indifference.
“Do I receive the Body of Christ while wounding the Body of Christ?” he asked, urging the faithful to ensure their personal faith matches their “orthodox profession of truths.”
Reflecting on the Washing of the Feet, Fr. Marcel reminded the Church that the Eucharist is a mandate for transformation. He argued that if the faithful receive a “God who kneels,” they are inherently called to a life of service and humility.
Addressing the specific fractures of the current year, Fr. Marcel noted that the world is watching the Church. He asserted that Christ’s answer to global conflict is not “strategies,” but “Eucharistic people” who build communion where there is division, who choose reconciliation over conflict, and who serve when it is easier to dominate.
The homily concluded with a powerful charge to the congregation to leave the altar not just as individuals going home, but as “bread broken and love poured out.” The Eucharist, Fr. Marcel stated, “is not meant to end here. It is meant to begin in us.”
“The cross is not the end!” Fr. Chikere Agbo’s Good Friday Homily
In his Homily at Hekima University College Chapel on Good Friday, 2026, Fr. Chikere Agbo, SJ, presented a sobering reflection on the “scandal” of the Cross, urging the faithful to move beyond the romanticized imagery of Good Friday to confront the raw, brutal reality of Christ’s suffering.
Fr. Agbo argued that the image of the Suffering Servant is not merely a historical event to be observed, but a transformative mystery that invites believers into a deeper, sacrificial participation in God’s love.
He highlighted three central paradoxes that define the Good Friday experience:
Suffering that Saves: The prophet Isaiah’s description of the Servant, “crushed, wounded, humiliated”, confronts the reality of human pain. Fr. Agbo emphasized that God does not “explain” suffering from a distance; rather, in Christ, He bears it from within, standing with humanity in its deepest betrayals and failures.
Weakness that Redeems: He noted that Jesus’ mission was “finished” not by power but by self-giving love. By carrying human infirmities, Jesus transformed the Cross from a symbol of defeat into a “proclamation of fulfillment.”
Silence that Speaks: Good Friday demands a shift from being mere spectators to becoming active participants. The silence of the tomb, he noted, is not a finality, but a space where God continues His work of redemption.
Fr. Agbo challenged the congregation to reconsider their relationship with their own “crosses.” While the human instinct is to avoid pain, he posed a pivotal question: “What if love sometimes requires sacrifice?”
He suggested that when an individual suffering, grief, failure, or disappointment is united with faith, it becomes a channel of grace for the community and the world. The homily concluded with a practical invitation for the faithful, as they venerated the Cross, to unite their wounds with Christ by bringing personal pains to the foot of the Cross, acknowledging that Christ, the High Priest, empathizes with human weakness, to trust in redeeming love by Maintaining faith in God’s plan, even when the “darkness” of life makes it difficult to understand the path ahead, and finally to love sacrificially, by practicing love in “small, concrete ways” in daily life, mirroring the sacrificial love Jesus demonstrated on the Cross.
“The cross is not the end,” Fr. Agbo reminded the assembly. “It is the place where love proves stronger than suffering, stronger than sin, and stronger even than death.”
“Let us be quick in letting go, allowing the stones of death to be footstools for the glory of God.” FR. Emmanuel Foro’s Easter Vigil Homily
In a vibrant celebration marked by joyous songs, Fr. Emmanuel Foro, SJ, Rector of Hekima Jesuit, delivered a powerful Easter Vigil homily centered on the theme of divine initiative and the transformation of death into a “footstool” for hope.
Drawing on the African tradition of celebrating life’s milestones through movement and music, Fr. Foro called on the faithful to recognize that resurrection is not a human effort, but God’s ongoing work of creation and renewal.
Fr. Foro offered a striking meditation on the Gospel of Matthew, noting that the angel did not roll away the stone to “free” Jesus, but to allow the disciples to see that death had been defeated. He described the stone of death becoming a “footstool” for the angel, a sign of total victory and challenged the congregation gathered at Hekima University chapel to place their own “stones”, sufferings, failures, and pains, beneath their feet and sit upon them as thrones of triumph through Christ.
Fr. Foro highlighted Jesus’ instruction to the women to tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee. And according to him, Galilee represents the “context of mission”, the daily life where believers are sent. He noted that by calling his former betrayers “brothers,” Jesus transformed Easter into a story of profound reconciliation and the letting go of past wounds.
He concluded with a practical “litany” of service, urging the faithful to transform their lives by letting go of the desire to have the last word in arguments, the irritation caused by interruptions to “holy schedules,” and the discomfort associated with serving others.
“Let us be quick in letting go,” Fr. Foro urged, “allowing the stones of death to be footstools for the glory of God.”
The homily was punctuated by the congregation singing “Up from the grave He arose” and the French hymn “Galilée,” emphasizing that the response to salvation in an African context is one of joy. Fr. Foro reminded the faithful that they are called to be “new creatures” who shine with the light of Christ in their various “Galilees” today.
“The Gospel means the stories of you and I put together.” Fr. Chukwuemeka Orji’s Easter Sunday Homily
In an intellectually stimulating and deeply human Easter Sunday homily, Fr. Chukwuemeka Orji, SJ, challenged the faithful gathered at Hekima University Chapel on Easter Sunday 2026 to look beyond the “empty tomb” and find the Resurrection within the complex, mosaic-like stories of their own lives.
Rather than presenting a simple historical play-by-play, Fr. Orji highlighted the long, struggling journey of the first disciples to realize that Christ had truly conquered “the worst enemy of mankind.”
Fr. Orji addressed a common question of why the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection differ. He explained that variations in the text, such as the number of angels or the specific reactions of the disciples, are not contradictions but “redactions,” which portray two things: human assistance to Divine Truth, where he noted that writers like Mark saw a “young man in white,” while Matthew saw an angel, and John saw two: and secondly, the Mosaic of Faith, and he noted that these stories were “put together” over 10 to 15 years, as the early Church worked through its grief and confusion to understand the magnitude of what had happened.
Fr. Orji spoke passionately about Mary Magdalene, whom he called his “heroine.” He explicitly corrected historical misconceptions, stating that she was not a “crazy woman” or a prostitute; she was a devoted follower who provided for Jesus and practiced his teachings, and along with Peter and the Beloved Disciple, she represents the “lay” and “clerical” voices that form the foundational witness of the Church.
Fr. Orji reminded the congregation that for the first disciples, Easter was not a scheduled holiday on a calendar but a period of hiding and tears. Of Costly Praise, where he noted the extraordinary shift, it took for Jewish disciples to take the word “Alleluia” (traditionally reserved for Yahweh) and apply it to Jesus; and a Delayed Realization where he emphasized that Peter, who denied Jesus and initially failed to understand the washing of the feet, only fully realized the Resurrection through years of mission, eventually giving his life in Rome.
The core of Fr. Orji’s message was that the Gospel is a living document shaped by human experience.
“The Gospel means the stories of you and I put together,” he stated.
He encouraged the congregation, including deacons and laypeople, to view their lives as “drawing boards” where God is still writing. Just as John the Evangelist acted as a divine artist putting together a “mosaic on the wall,” modern Christians are called to assist one another in their individual faith journeys, to discover new stories within their own lives to share with future generations, and to believe that Christ has conquered the “worst enemy” in their personal lives today.
Fr. Orji concluded by praying that the 2026 Easter celebration would be a moment for every believer to become a new character in the ongoing story of the Resurrection, passing a living faith to those who come after. “The Lord is risen. Alleluia, Alleluia!”
